RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail Story
Refinery officials to Dean Florez: You're wrong
| Tuesday, Apr 8 2008 3:02 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Apr 8 2008 5:00 PM
Big West refinery officials have responded to criticism from state Sen. Dean Florez about plans to use a controversial chemical in a proposed expansion.
BAKERSFIELD.COM HOT TOPICS:
Loading Stories
Advertisement
To view video for this story
please update your Flash player
Photos:
The Big West of California refinery on Rosedale Highway is seeking to expand its operations. Three Central Valley lawmakers voiced their support for the expansion in a letter submitted to The Californian Monday.
Related Stories:
In a four-page letter to Florez, Big West said the senator is misinformed in his belief that modified hydrofluoric acid threatens the community.
“Based on the amount of misinformation in your letter, we are optimistic that you will change your view once you have had an opportunity to consider the facts,” Big West’s letter said.
Florez held a press conference and sent a letter to refinery officials last week urging them to drop plans to use modified hydrofluoric acid, known as modified HF, in favor of sulfuric acid, a common alternative.
Big West’s letter cited industry statistics supporting the company's assertion that modified HF is as safe as sulfuric acid. The letter also noted that the use of modified hydrofluoric acid would require just 35 truck trips a year, versus 14,600 for sulfuric acid. Modified HF is also the best choice for refining San Joaquin crude oil, the company said.
Big West proposed last year to use unaltered HF in its $700 million expansion to boost gasoline and diesel output.
HF had earned a bad reputation following several deadly releases in the 1980s. The chemical is widely considered dangerous to communities because, if spilled, it can form a ground-hugging vapor cloud that can harm or kill anyone in its path. The federal government also considers facilities that use or store large amounts of HF to be a potential terrorist target.
But following public outcry over those plans, the refinery proposed the use of modified HF, which contains an additive that suppresses vapor cloud formation in the event of a spill by up 70 to 80 percent.
Experts widely agree that modified HF and sulfuric acid are safer than unaltered HF. But there is no clear consensus on whether one of them is safer than the other.
“Needless Risk,” a 2005 U.S. Public Interest Research Group study on the dangers of HF, stated that both sulfuric acid and modified HF significantly reduced community danger.
In a Californian interview last year, Cal Hodge, president of A 2nd Opinion, a fuels consulting firm in Texas, said when you compare modified HF with sulfuric acid, they’re equally safe.
He considered the risk of frequent truck trips to take sulfuric acid to and from a regenerating plant. Sulfuric acid is also considered a caustic and dangerous substance though it does not form a vapor cloud when spilled.
Big West also said in its letter that while unaltered HF is listed as a chemical of interest regulated under the Department of Homeland Security’s new anti-terrorism standards, modified HF is not.
Florez on Tuesday shot back with a second letter to Big West that reiterated his stance against modified HF. He also questioned the facility’s hazardous release record and Big West's initial reluctance to use modified HF due to the company's lack of confidence in the technology.